Plan for Portugal Trip September 2010
 

Looking for feedback on a tentative plan for our trip.

One week in an apartment in Lisbon with sidetrips to Sintra, Cascais by train or bus.

Car rental and 4 days to travel and explore on our way to Arcos de Valdevez for one week stay in Gite. Possible excursions into Galicia and maybe as far as Santiago (less than 2 hours by Mappy).

Drive to Estremoz for a Gite for one week with exploration in that area.

Return to Lisbon area byway of Setubal and possibly Sesimbra for 1 or 2 nights before flying out of Lisbon, hoping to stay at an airport hotel for an early flight home the next day. (any suggestions for either place appreciated).

In all we have up to 4 weeks including flight time. Any feedback to improve the trip will be welcome. Have been reading this forum for months (as well as Spain forum) and thank all contributors for making sense of what sounds like a wonderful place to visit.

This sounds like a wonderful trip.

I will make a couple of comments. We have rented a couple of apartments in Lisbon. One was in Chiado and one in Baixa. I can give you more information if you would like. Both were nice but the Baixa one was a studio so if you need more space, that will not work. Both are air conditioned which I would say go for because if you get hot weather, you will like having it in September.

Secondly, I think you will easily fill up a week in Lisbon. We love the city.

We spent about four nights in Estremoz and it was very easy to do day trips all over the Alentejo.

The center of Lisbon is so close to the airport that you can easily get to the airport for an early flight. We have gotten a taxi as early as 4 am with no problem. Even if you want to drop off the car on the day before the flight I would say stay in Lisbon. A taxi ride to the airport would only be about E10. You could drop off the car, take a taxi into town and take a taxi to the airport in the morning. I wouldn't miss being able to stroll around Baixa or Rossio or Chiado on my last night. Or wherever the mood takes you.

I haven't stayed in Setubal or Sesimbra but we did stay on the Alentejo coast a little further South and enjoyed it very much.

I cannot comment on Spain. Sorry.

Sher, thanks for your suggestions. We would much rather stay in Lisbon our last night and you have reassured me about not having to stay at an airport hotel. I think I read your thread on the apartment on Rua Garrett (is that right?). That apartment is open for our dates and I thought it was great. We usually like to stay somewhat out of the main tourist area if public transportation is available and so had thought more about the Lapa area, will be deciding soon as this trip I don't want to overthink the logistics. Any feedback appreciated.

Hello, cindyjo -

Rua Garrett is the main shopping street in Lisbon's Chiado district. Very busy day and night, full of tourists and locals. Great if you like hustle-bustle.

Lapa is a lovely area but there is no good/easy public transportation to get there and back.

And Sher is correctly: it's easy to get a taxi to the airport from anyplace near the "Rossio," Lisbon's main plaza. Stay in city center and enjoy one last night. (Taxi to the airport will be about €10, 15 minutes.)

Hope you have a lovely trip!
Deb Kleber / VisitingPortugal

We stayed in the apartment on Rua Garrett. We would have stayed there on the last trip but it was not open. It is also listed on traveling to lisbon but we rented it directly from the owner.
I love this area because you can be out late and walk to many cafes in Barrio Alto, Rossio. And there are always taxis waiting at the upper Chiado metro stop which is a little over a block away. I cannot say enough good things about it as you can tell from my other posts and comments.

That sounds like a great trip. I would say don't miss Evora on your way to Estremoz. And Monsaraz would be a lovely day trip from Estremoz.

And I reaffirm what everyone here says about staying in Lisbon your last night. I caught the airport bus early in the morning from Restauradores two different times and was at the airport within twenty-five minutes.

Boa Viagem.

Hi, Cindyjo,

What a great trip you've got planned. Two full weeks with a home base, lucky you. Here are a few scattered comments --

With the four days between Lisbon and Arcos de Valdevez, I would make sure to visit the Douro Valley. I think it would be too far for a comfortable day trip from Arcos. I was there in Sept. last year and it was truly spectacular, it's harvest time. I'd spend at least one night there and allow for a full day of just seeing the area. The train ride from Pinhao to Pouciniho is jaw-dropping. About an hour each way, with a 45 minute stop at the end of the line (where there is a train station bar and a cafe -- the family who runs the train station bar makes their own port and olive oil). I have a post on some short trips I've taken up there. http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-the-douro.cfm

Arcos will be a great base for day trips. I'd put the following places high on my list, but there are so many more: Guimaraes, Ponte de Lima, Viana do Castelo, Braga (and nearby Citanis dos Breiteiros if you like prehistoric ruins -- an easy day trip from both Braga and Guimaraes), Valenca do Minho and its Spanish partner across the river, Tui. If you like the outdoors, the National Park Peneda Geres has a lot of things to see, and I think you could do a nice circle day swing to see some of the beautiful scenery. I have some notes on a trip I took there but never posted them, let me know if you're interested.

Santiago is definitely worth a day trip. The roads are very good and you could probably be there in under two hours, so with an early start you'd have a full day. This year is a Holy Year in Santiago and the crowds will probably be enormous. (Holy Years occur whenever St. James' birthday is on a Sunday, and there won't be another one for 11 years, so they are really hyping it). I'd drive into town, head straight to the huge parking lot Juan XXIII and walk for hours through the incredible stone center.

Also, there is a walking route from Lisbon up to Santiago, and there are many really nice towns on the Spain side of that walk: Tui and Pontevedra are my favorites and could be another day trip if you were so inclined.

Estremoz is also a great place for day trips and I know lots of people have given many good suggestions on other threads -- Belmonte, Marvao, Arraiolos, Castelo de Vide, Evora. I think you can do the "upper Alentejo" justice with a week of day trips, and leave the lower part (Serpa, Beja, some Roman Ruins, etc) for later.

And one last thing -- others are absolutely right that staying in Lisbon for the last night won't cause much of a hassle in terms of going to the airport, but if you've already spent a week in Lisbon, you could schedule a last night stay at one of the pousadas close to Lisbon (Palmela and Queluz are probably the closest, and Sesimbra is about 35 miles from the airport), and then drive the rental car straight to the airport in the morning. I have read lots of trip reports here that have done just that, I wouldn't do it with a really early morning flight, though, but some people don't mind getting up at 4 am.

You've got so many options, the hard thing will be winnowing them down to a manageable number! Laurie

Just one more thought. Laurie makes a good point about staying somewhere near Lisbon and driving into the airport in the morning. That would be fun since you would have spent a week there earlier.
Just don't spend your last night at a airport hotel.
Another point just in case you do not know. The car rentals, well most of them anyway, are right at the Lisbon airport. You just drop off the car and walk to the departure check in. No shuttles.

Your trip sounds wonderfu. SLow travel is the best! We rented a nice one bedroom apartment overlooking the Praca Rossio. The owners are US ex-pats and very helpful. Has a/c and a computer with DSL, w/d, dw, etc.. Very well equipped.www.visitingportugal.com

Don't miss the Saturday morning market in Estremoz.

Great information here. Thanks to all the posters. Bookmarking for future reference.

Nikki. We stayed in a hotel on the main square in Estremoz. So we just walked across the street. One vendor kept us talking for some time. He was really glad to see Americans visiting. And he was happy to exercise his English, which was very good.

Right, not a lot of tourists at that market. Live roosters and marble dust to whitewash the houses. Old sewing machines. Functional as well as decorative pottery.

Well, lots of time has passed since my first post. Due to computer malfuntion, I am now typing on a mini which is great to hunt and peck when traveling but is impossible when actually trying to type! I need long, thin, close together alien fingers! Thank you for all the replies. Each and every one has contributed to my progressive plan. Our original plan stands. One week in Lisbon in an apartment in Rua Impresseza de National which is close to Praca de Flores (excuse my typos, this is impossible!). I hope this will not present too much of a transportation problem. Any ideas on most expediant way to get to main tourist areas will be appreciated. I am thinking it will be mostly up hill or down hill. I think we are a few blocks from the Rata metro.
We then rent a car for 4 day trip to Ponte de Lima for a weeks stay (changed our destination from Arcos de Valdevez). From there to Redonda to explore the alentejo. We leave Redonda on October 9 and have 2 nights to spend before leaving Lisbon at 11:05 am. We would like yto spend the last two nights in Sesimbra at the Sano Hotel with water view. Will we be able to get to the airport from Sesimbra 2 hours before take-off?
Now planning to spend 2 nights at posada at Ourem to explore Navare, Tomba, etc. Then 2 nights in Doura Valley to explore same. Still contemplating a cruise. Thoughts on where to spend the time in the Doura?
I have been following the Portugal thread for some time and am surprised there isn't more activity. From all I have read, it sounds as if it is a fabulous place to visit.
Looking for fares from seattle. still a little early to find a good fare but appears BA may be best bet. Our priority next to price is time - the less time in 31 inch seat the better.
Any thoughts, suggestions are appreciated. I will definitely play it forward after our trip in september.

Hi, Cindyjo, looks like your trip is really coming together. I think you've picked a great part of Lisbon (assuming you meant Rua da Imprensa Nacional -- I know what you mean about typing on those tiny keyboards). Googlemaps is extremely helpful in showing you nearby bus routes, numbers, destinations and pictures. For buses you will be able to go to one of two main streets -- Rua Escola Politecnica or Rua Sao Bento -- the former is up high, the latter down low. You're somewhere in the middle. And the metro is close, Rato is the end of the line and has good connections. If you like off the beaten path neighborhoods, you will love the Praca das Flores, it is a real gem. And I'm sure I've mentioned this, but I'd highly recommend the Charcuteria Francesa, a relatively new restaurant near the praca. As well as a couple of the cafes right on the square.

In my experience, the drive from Sesimbra to Lisbon is under an hour, but a lot will depend on traffic and time of day. To get to the airport from Sesimbra, you will have to cross into Lisbon on the 23rd April bridge, get on the Eixo norte-sul (a north south route that cuts across the city), and then head east on the Segunda Circular to the airport. There are a lot of pockets of terrible traffic during rush hour on that route, but if you are either going on a weekend or very early you shouldn't have to add much time to the one hour estimate.

I have never taken a cruise on the Douro, but I'm just not much of a boat person. The one hour cruise on the river from Porto was plenty of sitting on a boat for me. But some people really like it, so it just depends on you. If you've got two nights in the Douro Valley, that gives you a full day and parts of two others. I would highly recommend the train ride from Pinhao east (or you can catch it further west in Peso da Regua if you want a longer ride) to the end of the line. I imagine you can do this on boat as well. The scenery is incredible.

I've recommended two places to stay in the Douro on other posts, one is the Casa das Canilhas, which is outside the pretty, old, and very small town of Mesao Frio (where there is a great little restaurant). The Casa das Canilhas is located in between the pousada of Mesao Frio and the town itself. I actually prefer Canilhas' location to the pousada, because it's higher up and has a fantastic view. The other amenity that the pousada doesn't have is that all rooms in Casa das Canilhas have either a private terrace with a view or an area on a balcony to sit and contemplate the beauty. Very nice for sitting with a glass of local wine (you can buy wine from the Mesao Frio cooperative -- very inexpensive and not bad). The house also has a working vineyard, so there are some nice little walks to be taken. The owners are very helpful and will recommend restaurants and help with other arrangements. Breakfast is abundant with lots of home made treats.

The other place I've stayed and really liked is on the south side of the Douro, closer to the town of Lamego than the port towns on the north side of the river, but it's very close to the highway and very easy to get to the sites in the Douro Valley. I recommended it in this link, so I won't repeat what I said: http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-the-douro.cfm

One last thing, if you're staying in Redondo, and depending on your tolerance for distance with a day trip, it's probably an hour and a half from Redondo to Marvao, but I you'll find a lot of rave reviews of Marvao from this bunch of fodorites (and some for nearby Castelo de Vide as well), so you might want to consider going there.

Lots of choices, hope it all comes together for you. Laurie

Stay in Lisbon for your last night as there are no actual hotels at the Lisbon airport that I have see.